Riddell

One of the most common questions that I get from parents is “How well will my child’s helmet protect against concussion?”

The elusive answer appears to have been provided at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting. In a study co-authored by Frank Conidi, MD, DO, MS, director of the Florida Center for Headache and Sports Neurology, Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology at Florida State University College of Medicine, the standard drop test was modified to measure linear and rotational responses in crash test dummies to repeated 12 mile-per-hour impacts.

They found that helmets do protect the player from massive injuries like skull fractures in the range of 70 to 80 percent but provide little to no protection against concussion in the range of 10 to 15 percent.

Why is that? While the helmet does its job in disbursing the impact of a hard hit across the helmet to greatly reduce the risk of a skull fracture at one specific site, a helmet cannot stop the brain from shaking inside the skull, thus providing little to no protection against a concussion.

In fact, the team of scientists found that football helmets, on average, reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury by only 20 percent compared to not wearing a helmet. Added to these statistics, Conidi says, “Alarmingly, those that offered the least protection are among the most popular on the field.”

One of the best tools we have available is neurocognitive baseline testing. With the beginning of the school year upon us, please remember to get your child baseline tested. Headfirst Concussion Care offers free ImPACT® baseline testing. Please call 1-855-748-4868 (SIT-IT-OUT) or visit us online to arrange your child’s appointment.

Whose responsibility is to make sure an athlete remains concussion free? The player? The coach? Parents? Well, at least 2,500 people believe it should be the helmet manufacturers.

Right now 2,500 plaintiffs are seeking damages against Riddell because they believe the sports equipment company had a duty to protect NFL players against the long-term risk of concussions, yet defaulted on that obligation.

Further, the plaintiffs believe that Riddell falsely marketed their helmets as having the ability to reduce the risk of concussions by a substantial percentage. Plaintiffs refer to Riddell’s Revolution helmet in their Master Complaint, pointing out that Riddell marketed the helmet as reducing concussions by 31%.

In response to this accusation, all Riddell Football Helmets now include concussion awareness hang-tags with information from USA Football and the CDC.

Whose responsibility is it to educate the sports community about the dangers of concussion? In our estimation, everyone.